Mufti Muhammad Naeem (1958 – 20 June 2020) was a Pakistani cleric and Islamic scholar who served as Chancellor of

Jamia Binoria Jamia Binoria Aalamia is an Islamic educational institute in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is regarded as one of the most modern madrassa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational ins ...

Biography

Family background

His paternal family came from

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

in Indian

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. His grandfather was born a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

who adopted Islam.

Life and career

Naeem was born in 1958. He also co-founded the

Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...

seminary

. He was executive member of

Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan (Urdu: ) is the largest federation of Islamic seminaries in Pakistan, founded in 1959. More than 10,000 seminaries and 23,000 madaris across Pakistan are affiliated with the federation. It controls all the ...

Death and legacy

He died in Karachi on 20 June 2020 because of a heart attack. However Chief Minister Sindh

Murad Ali Shah Syed Murad Ali Shah ( ur, , ; born 8 November 1962) is a Pakistani politician and structural engineer who is the 29th and current Chief Minister of Sindh province of Pakistan and has been a member of the Sindh Assembly. Early life and educa ...

revealed in a speech at

Sindh Assembly The Provincial Assembly of Sindh ( ur, ) is a unicameral legislature of elected representatives of the Pakistani province of Sindh, and is located in Karachi, the provincial capital. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution o ...

that Mufti Naeem, Talib Jauhri and

Munawar Hasan Syed Munawar Hasan ( ur, سید منور حسن; 5 January 194026 June 2020) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 4th Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami from 2009 to 2014. He was a elected as a member of the National Ass ...

, all of the three clerics who died in past week were due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan The COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached Pakistan on 26 February 2020, when two c ...

. His funeral prayer was led by

Muhammad Taqi Usmani Muhammad Taqi Usmani (born 5 October 1943) is a Pakistani Islamic scholar and former judge who is the current president of the Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia and the vice president and Hadith professor of the Darul Uloom Karachi. An intellectual ...

. The funeral was attended by scholars like

Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari (born; 8 November 1963) (مولانا محمد حنیف جالندھری) is a Pakistani Islamic scholar, incumbent General Secretary of Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan the rector of Jamia Khairul Madaris since 19 ...

, Hakeem Azhar of Ashraf ul Madaris, Taqi Usmani's son Muhammad Imran Ashraf Usmani of

Jamia Darul Uloom, Karachi Darul Uloom Karachi ( ur, دارالعلوم کراچی) is a Madrasa in Karachi, Pakistan. It was founded by Muhammad Shafi Deobandi in June 1951 at Nanak Wara and later on it transferred to Korangi, Karachi, on March 17, 1957. It continues t ...

, Merajul Huda Siddiqui, Saeed Ahmad Afridi and his students. Prime Minister of Pakistan

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

, President

Arif Alvi Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi (; born 29 July 1949) is a Pakistani dentist and politician currently serving as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office since 9 September 2018. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2 ...

, Governor of Sindh

Imran Ismail Imran Ismail ( ur, ; born 1 January 1966) is a Pakistani businessman and politician from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He served as the 33rd Governor of Sindh from 27 August 2018 to 18 April 2022. Before being appointed Governor of Sindh, he was ...

and the Chief Minister of Sindh

Syed Murad Ali Shah Syed Murad Ali Shah ( ur, , ; born 8 November 1962) is a Pakistani politician and structural engineer who is the 29th and current Chief Minister of Sindh province of Pakistan and has been a member of the Sindh Assembly. Early life and educ ...

expressed sadness over his death. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters. Earlier in 2014, his son-in-law, Masood Beg, was killed in an attack in Karachi.

Voice of justice and anti-terrorism

Reportedly he played a significant role in shaping 'Paigham-e-Pakistan' – a historic fatwa against terrorism issued on 10 February 2016, at the end of a 'Paigham-e-Islam' conference attended by over five thousand Ulema, Mashaikh and Islamic scholars. Mufti Naeem had also spoken out against suicide bombings and rise of terrorism back in 2007.

References

1958 births 2020 deaths Pakistani Islamic religious leaders Pakistani Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Pakistani people of Gujarati descent People of Parsi descent Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Sindh Deobandis Chancellors of the Jamia Binoria {{Pakistan-bio-stub